Polar Vortex

I heard on a weather update yesterday that it's been much colder than average most days since December 4. Sounds about right. I've had the inner layer zipped into my jacket since the week after Thanksgiving; most winters, I wear only the outer shell most days.

The first frigid cold spell broke in time for Christmas. I was keeping track of how many days of respite followed each week or so of bone chilling cold, but I gave that up awhile back. I lost interest when our temperatures didn't come close to breaking records. In January schools have been closed a couple of days, and shortly after the year began, even Rainbow Foods and other businesses closed early.  For some employees, the extreme cold has created the added hardship of reduced hours and income.

I feel confined to, and by, the house. Sometimes the outing of the day is grocery shopping or running a few errands. I wear a hat, scarf and warm mittens to shovel snow and clear the sidewalks. As I worked outside this morning, I thought about the very few times in my life when I've been really cold:

• frozen toes as a child from walking in deep snow in search of a Christmas tree
• frostbitten fingers from a holding an iced up rope tow as a young skier
• snowshoeing in too few layers for the weather
• skiing with Bob in Quebec City, when I couldn't keep my glasses fog free
• tent camping near Crosslake, when I froze in my light summer sleeping bag
• camping in Yellowstone National Park, when I couldn't warm up after falling in a frigid mountain lake

That's about it -- until now. I'm now remembering, a little wistfully, my hand wringing over global warming when we had a long run of positively balmy winters a decade or so ago.

As the number of tolerable indoor activities diminishes, that five o'clock cocktail hour is a very welcome little reward for making it through yet another sub-zero day.

Road Trip in the Deep Freeze

Early last week my friend Monica was looking for a volunteer to make a quick hop to Des Moines with her on Thursday, January 23.  I thought it would be fun to catch up with her and attend her presentation to the Central Iowa chapter of ARMA in Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines. The topic was  information governance, specifically the impact on cloud computing on records management. Information management is one of my major interests, so I was looking forward to the event.

Earlier this week, temperatures began to fall and by yesterday morning the temperature outside our kitchen window was -18F, so I was somewhat less enthusiastic about spending at least eight hours on the road when Monica arrived to pick me up at 7:15 a.m.

 She's an excellent driver and we made good time, even though I35E was very busy in both directions. Fortunately, there were no drifts on the freeway and as we drove south, there was very little snow, a sharp contrast to the very snowy environment in and around the Twin Cities.

Monica's presentation was very well received and we had a good lunch at Mama Lacona's: salad, several kinds of thin crust pizza, lasagna, a variety of rolls and bread. Our server was the restaurant's general manager: very professional, attentive and pleasant. I was happy to be back in the familiar world of information management, if only for an hour on what was really a day on the road.

We stopped at Majestic Lion Antique Center on the way home and spent a pleasant hour walking through a large warehouse, full of antiques, memorabilia, old class photos, kitsch, and junk. I'm neither a shopper nor a collector, but I had fun looking though this eclectic collection. I was just a little tempted buy some old Fiestaware in colors and sizes that I don't have, but the last thing I need is more dishes, so I resisted the inclination to purchase.

Wind farm just east of I35E in northern Iowa.

The ride home was a little warmer -- above zero some of the time -- but the landscape was very bleak and monotonous for most of the 250-mile drive. The wind blew relentless across the freeway, powering the windmills in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota and I remembered the early autumn beauty of last September. Spring seemed so very far away.

Monica dropped me at the door shortly after 7:00 p.m. I was almost surprised that our long day had been so enjoyable. The frigid winter day on the road was great fun.

Estate Sale

Pre-dawn on the first day of the sale

Our neighbor's estate sale began yesterday at 9:00 a.m. and it concludes today at 3:00 p.m.

E. was our friend for many years, She and her family knew my husband and his first family for several decades before I moved into our house when Bob and I were married thirty years ago. Her wedding gift to me was a lace tablecloth that I used for a long time until one too many cats used it to slide across the Duncan Phyfe dining room table, not unlike this one but full of cat scratches, replaced with a more modern set about a decade ago. The furniture and the tablecloth would have fit in perfectly with E.'s estate sale offerings.

E. had moved to assisted living five or six years before she died eighteen months ago, so the house has been vacant for quite some time. When the family invited us to preview the items in the sale a few days ago, I felt very sad to see E.'s life laid out on every available surface in the house. E. & I shared a love for cats, and I was happy to be given a cat bookmark and a little, round china box with a black and white cat on it. When we got home after the viewing, my husband and I immediately began to clean house. We made several trips to the trash bin with buckets of garbage and polished off the afternoon with an excursion to the Goodwill.

We were unprepared for the onslaught of vehicles on our street yesterday morning. When I got up shortly after 6:00 a.m., cars were parked on both sides of the street, as far as I could see. By 8:30, a line of people stretched from E.'s house to the street, and the steady stream of people continued until the doors were locked at 3:00 p.m.

Yesterday, the serious collectors were out: WWII memorabilia, outboard motors, vintage magazines, ancient gardening tools, old books. We saw camping equipment from the fifties and garage shelving carried out to waiting trucks and SUVs. Our young neighbor bought some model railroad books from a half century ago and a newspaper section with a headline announcing VICTORY! after the Second World War.



People lined up all weekend

Today, leftover stock went on sale for 50% off. Several buyers were waiting at the door an hour before opening. Two hours before the estate sale ends, there's no place to park on the street and the house is being emptied by the bagful. A guy just walked by the window with a pair of older skis and poles. Even husband Bob went over, and came home with a cat carrier he bought for $2.50. I was actually very pleased, because the cat is too strong to stuff into her own small carrier, and this one will be more manageable.

E.'s tidy little house is full of strangers greedily shopping for a bargain. Just doesn't feel right.

Seinfeld: Party of 2500

Jerry Seinfeld 01.17.2014 - Orpheum Theatre

The Orpheum Theatre was filled to capacity Friday evening for the second of Jerry Seinfeld's three shows in Minneapolis. Looking around the audience, I saw a lot of AARP types, junkies of the old Seinfeld sitcom. Like me, they probably knew every Seinfeld episode and have seen most of them several dozen times.
I laughed for nearly two hours and woke several times during the night with lines from Seinfeld's fast-paced routine in my head. This NY Times item provides some interesting insight into how Jerry still tries out his jokes in NYC comedy clubs, obsessed about perfecting language, timing, gestures.

I loved this routine full of Jerry's quirky view of the world. Seinfeld has jokes on everything: cell phones, social media, other technology, death, pop tarts, and more.  My favorite segment was the bit on relationships and I enjoyed peering into the little window revealing tidbits about Seinfeld's personal life life, including his marriage, being a husband and father.

Warm-up comic Mario Joyner was a happy surprise as well. Highlights: a rant on his New Year's resolution to eliminate regional accents overestimating one's do-it-yourself abilities, "upscale" homeless in Santa Monica, California. This comic managed to address delicate issues with fairly inoffensive killer humor.

Magnetron

I an adept and frequent user of my microwave, and have been very happy with the over-the-range LG model that replaced my 10-year-old GE model last April. I was surprised, and a little shocked, when the machine suddenly quit working on day 2 of the New Year. I immediately called the manufacturer's customer service desk, and after a few simple diagnostic tests (like restarting the microwave and resetting the time), the agent authorized a service call covered under the warranty.

The two-week wait for a technician seemed a little long, but I decided to make the best of the situation and reverted to "the old ways":  I haven't forgotten how to use the oven and still know how to manage cooking times so that dishes are ready at the same time. My favorite recent meal of sautéed fresh salmon was just as good reheated at 350 degrees as it had been the previous evening.

I'm used to cleaning up as I work, and was a little dismayed that preparing the main course and side dishes simultaneously resulted in many more dishes at the end of the meal. Fortunately, Bob stepped in as cook's helper and clean-up was quick and efficient.

Nevertheless, I was counting down the days and literally jumped out of bed this morning, as excited as a kid at Christmas. I was dressed and outside clearing snow by 7:00 a.m., in case the technician arrived at the beginning of the 8-12 service window. Dustin, a good looking young man in the Air National Guard, was on the job shortly after 10:00 a.m.

After removing a few screws and performing a few minor tests, Dustin diagnosed a bad magnetron and diode, an easy repair. The bad news: the parts in his truck are mostly for old machines and he didn't have the parts for our newer microwave. The repair is now scheduled for January 29, and I'm simply resigned to waiting it out. I did enjoy learning that customers often get quite angry when told bad news, and, not for the first time, was happy that I no longer have to deal with end-user temper tantrums.

January 29: the parts arrived about a week ago and Kyle the Repair Guy was here shortly after 8:00 a.m. this morning. He removed the microwave from its over-the-range location and took it apart on the kitchen table. After replacing the magnetron, the  appliance still didn't work. Kyle looked at the wiring and found what looked like a burned out plastic terminator for a couple of wires. I reluctantly let him out the door to get parts from his truck, and the whole thing was soon back together and in place. Water heating test was successful!

The good news: I have a better command of the cooking workstation and I really know how to integrate stovetop, oven and microwave.  And I'll never again take my microwave for granted.